Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1981-06-04

              STATE Hlo io. A. ,..,
I HI7? LOWRY ST.
COLUMBIA, MO- - 65201
73rd Year No. 222 ( Joocl Morning! U Thursday, June 4. 1981 2 Sections - 14 pages - 25 Cents
Committee Demos favor two- ye- ar tax cut
New York Times
WASHINGTON Democrats on the House
Ways and Means Committee reached informal
agreement Wednesday on the broad outlines of
a two- yea- r, tax- reli- ef bill designed to appeal to
the party's conservative wing.
The White House promptly mounted a coun- teroffensi- ve
organized around a three- ye- ar tax
bill to be sponsored by southern Democrats and
Republicans. Leaders of the 47- memb-er
Con-servative
Democratic Forum conferred hur-riedly
with White House officials Wednesday af-ternoon
and then scheduled a meeting of the
full group for this morning.
The Ways and Means Democrats, by a vote of
21-- 4, supported the proposal of Chairman Dan
Rostenkowski of Illinois for a bill that would cut
tax rates across the board by 5 percent in 1881
and 10 percent more in 1982 and offer a variety
of other tax savings to individuals and business.
The bill, as outlined in general terms by the
chairman and other Democrats, was designed
to attract broad support, urban and rural,
northern and southern.
liberal Democrats said there could be pro-tracted
debate on tax relief for business in the
form of more generous depreciation allow-ances.
Shortly after Rostenkowski announced that
his committee would begin formal drafting of a
two- ye- ar bill next Wednesday, the White House
signaled it would continue its fight for a three- ye- ar
bill.
" That's not good enough," Deputy Press Sec-retary
Larry Speakes said of the Democratic
proposal. He added that President Reagan " re-mains
committed to the three- ye- ar bill."
Looking beyond the fight shaping up in the
House, the White House dispatched Treasury
Secretary Donald T. Regan to a 5 o'clock meet-ing
with the Democratic members of the Senate
Finance Committee. " We waited a half- ho- ur
and he didn't show up, so we left," said Sen. Bill
Bradley of New Jersey.
Regan and James A. Baker HI, the White
House chief of staff, met with the Senate major-ity
leader, Howard H. Baker of Tennessee, for
an hour, about 30 minutes longer than sched-uled.
From Capitol Hill to the White House,
Wednesday was a day of busy maneuvering
that began with Regan's breakfast with three
southern Democrats and went on at least until
Vice President George Bush's reception
Wednesday evening for the 23 Democrats and
13 Republicans on the Ways and Means Com-mittee.
In between, there were conflicting signals
from the White House on whether the president
might accept a two- ye- ar tax bill. " I don't think
he's dead set against it," Edward Meese HI,
counselor to the president, told reporters at a
breakfast meeting. " If someone came up with a
two- ye- ar plan, I would not regard that as a de-parture
from principle but that doesn't mean
we'd accept it," Meese said in reply to a follow- u- p
question.
Later, Speakes said mat Meese did not mean
to imply that the president was ready to accept
a two- ye- ar bill. Other White House officials said
they were startled by Meese's comments be-cause
they believed the president had a good
chance to duplicate his House victory on the
budget by enlisting conservative Democrats be-hind
a three- ye- ar bill.
Rostenkowski's decision to propose a two- ye- ar
bill represented a considerable departure
from his earlier advocacy of a one- ye- ar bill.
However, he stopped talking about that some
weeks ago in tacit recognition that the presi-dent
was too strong for the Democrats to pre-vail
if they insisted on a one- ye- ar measure.
As for the " targeting" of tax relief to taxpay-ers
who earn $ 20,000 to $ 30,000, a theme
Rostenkowski and House speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill have emphasized, that, too, is to be
achieved through compromise. Rostenkowski
indicated the Democrats would accept the
across- the- boa- rd principle favored by the presi-dent
equal percentage reductions of all tax
rates but would give extra tax relief to the
middle- incom- e brackets by partial abatement
of the " marriage penalty," a bigger standard
deduction and savings incentives.
Rostenkowski said his caucus had agreed to
increase the standard deduction, now $ 2,300 for
individuals and $ 3,400 for couples filing jointly,
by $ 200 and $ 400. He also said the earned in-come
tax credit for low- inco- me parents would
be increased to 11 percent from the present 10
percent, presumably making it worth a maxi-mum
of $ 550 instead of $ 500.
On abatement of the " penalty-- " paid by two- earn- er
couples whose joint tax liability is great-er
than they would pay if unmarried,
Rostenkowski was not specific. The remedy
most frequently mentioned is to let the lower- earnin- g
spouse deduct 10 percent of income up
to a maximum deduction of $ 3000.
Rostenkowski estimated the revenue loss
from the bill in fiscal year 1982, which starts
Oct. 1, would be $ 41 billion as against the $ 54
billion price tag on Reagan's bill.
Local ACLU
in financial
doldrums
Inmate lawsuits
taking their toll
ByMarkObbie
Missourian staff writer
Last fall, American Civil Liberties
Union officials predicted a resurgence
of their organization's popularity when
Republicans swept into office in Wash- -
1 ington.
' But, so far, the Columbia chapter of
the ACLU has not been quite that
lucky.
While membership roils have stayed
the same, lawsuits against state prison
officials have drained the bank ac-counts
of the local chapter and its par-ent
ACLU affiliate in St Louis, says lo-cal
lawyer Tony Vollers.
Vollers is one of only a handful of
lawyers who volunteer their services
Insight
to the ACLU, the national organization
that represents people whose civil lib-erties
may have been violated.
The St. Louis chapter has spent
about seven years and $ 25,000 on behalf
of Missouri State Penitentiary inmates
who were complaining of overcrowd-ing
and poor medical care, says Joyce
Armstrong, the chapter's executive di-rector.
Although part of that suit is pending,
many of the ACLlTs efforts to improve
conditions in the state's main prison in
Jefferson City have been successful,
says Columbia attorney Steve Glad-stone,
who has been working on the
case since 1974.
However, bringing the suit cost so
much that the Columbia chapter was
told it would have to raise money inde-pendently
if it wanted to pursue its own
prison inmate suit.
Vollers says about $ 1,300 was raised
four months ago to help pay for the lo-cal
chapter's suit against officials at
Moberly's Missouri Training Center
for Men. Seven inmates now are being
represented in the suit. They are
1 claiming they . were beaten after some
! prisoners rioted, even though they say
they can prove they did not take part in
i the uprising.
The suit was filed in January in fed
eral district court in St Louis. Vollers
! ( See CONTROVERSIAL, P. 8A)
. j :
iH& towsa
j today
7 p. m. Film, " Four Flies on
Grey Velvet," Ellis Library. No
! admission.
i 8 p. m. Play, " Music Man," Co--
' lumbia Entertainment Compa- -
1 ny, Launer Auditorium, Colum
bia College. Tickets $ 4.50 for
adults and $ 3.50 for children.
8: 15 pjn. Concert, Missouri
Symphony Society Performing
Arts Center, Orchestra Series.
Joseph Swenson, violin, with
chamber orchestra conducted by
Hugo Vianello. University Fine
Arts auditorium. Tickets $ 5, sen-ior
citizens and students $ 4.
Xncksx.
Business 7A
Classified - 3-
- iB i
Opinion ... .. .... A
People 5-- A
Sports. .... ... . 1- Z- B
I Theater SB
Weather ................................ za
4rit iHsk -- BKflHw fwBP SJE W ' n
Preparing
A young Bedouin boy holds his " galibaya" in his
teeth so he does not trip as he and a friend trans-port
chairs to the site of today's summit between
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Pre- -
UP1 tttaptwto
mier Menachem Begin. The two, meeting for the
first time in months, will discuss the Lebanese
crisis, Egyption- lsrael- i relations, their joint peace
effort and the Middle East situation in general.
Firefighters say
city rebuffs plan
for toxic mishap
By John Gra vols
Missourian staff writer
Columbia firefighters and area labor
leaders say city administrators have
not responded to their concerns about a
lack of city planning for handling acci-dents
involving hazardous materials.
During the past year, a firefighters
committee has been looking into buy-ing
specialized equipment, establish-ing
special training programs, setting
up medical treatment plans and coor-dinating
efforts of city departments to
handle such an accident.
But firefighters and labor leaders
say they have failed to get members of
the city's administrative staff to work
with the committee.
And, they say, without the adminis-trators,
not much can be done about
coordinating efforts among city de-partments.
Although firefighters say they have
publicly invited administrators to work
with the committee and have privately
followed up on that invitation. City
Manager Dick Gray said he does not
know of any staff members who have
refused to meet with the firefighters.
" I've never been invited to any of
their meetings," he said. " About the
only other thing I can say is that the
city administration is as concerned as
the firefighters are about hazardous
materials."
Gray did add that the city's civil de-fense
staff has been looking into poten-tial
problems concerning hazardous
materials and that the staff does have
some plans to handle accidents.
Firefighters and labor leaders say
that a mid- Apr- il incident in which
more than oneialf dozen city firefight-ers
were injured after inhaling a toxic
chemical from a smoke bomb used in
routine training exercises, points to the
urgent need for comprehensive plan-ning.
Forty- fiv- e firefighters and a Univer-sity
broadcast journalism student were
involved in the mishap.
" Something's got to be done to get
everyone together and get something
done," said Charlie Pearl, president of
the Central Missouri Labor Council. " I
don't know exactly what needs to be
done, but everyone, including the city
administration, has got to get together
before anything can be done."
Fire Chief Girard Wren agreed that
the city administration should be in-volved
with the efforts of the firefight-ers'
committee. But he said he is not
sold on some of the things the commit-tee
is pursuing.
For example, Wren said, it is study-ing
types of equipment available to
handle hazardous material accidents.
" And when you talk about that kind of
equipment, you talk about spending a
lot of money," he said.
Two special suits designed to protect
the wearer from hazardous materials
are on order, Wren said. " Just that'll
cost us about $ 100- - That gives you an.
idea as to how expensive this stuff is.
And there's only so much money avail-able
in this city to buy that stuff."
The suits will be the city's only gear
designed especially to handle hazard-ous
material accidents.
" We've got some plans and some
heavy equipment we could get our
hands on in case of an accident," Wren
said. " They're only a phone or radio
callaway."
The fire chief added that if anyone or
anything is to blame for potential di-sasters,
it is the federal government,
not city administrators.
" There's all these chemicals and
hazardous materials being made and
trucked all over this country," Wren
said. " Transportation of hazardous
materials should be monitored more
closely."
Wren has not attended any of the
firefighters' committee meetuigs but
has been represented by Training Off-icer
Gary Warren.
Mark S. Kosterich, a University la-bor
education specialist, said equip-ment
purchases and coordination of ef- fo- rts
could be handled
administratively. But, he said, fire-fighters
would have to negotiate con-tract
changes to insure a complete
medical treatment plan.
Through research, Kosterich said he
has found that, nationally, few fire de-partments
guarantee such medical
plans.
Kosterich has been working with the
firefighters committee to come up
with proposals for a medical plan.
Firefighters currently are negotiating
wage and benefit increases with the
city.
City schools could get extra funds
State Senate holds the purse strings
By Mary Watson
MJsMorian staff writer
JEFFERSON CITY The Columbia School Dis-trict
may receive a financial shot in the arm if the
Missouri Senate today successfully moves an educa-tional
funding measure ahead of nearly 50 other bills.
The bul includes a House- passe- d funding proposal
and a Senate committee substitute. Hank Fisher, as-sistant
superintendent of the Columbia School Dis-trict,
said the school board generally supports both
versions of the measure because it would result in a
boost in state education aid.
Because the two plans differ greatly on revenue es-timates
and factors used, it is difficult to compare
them, said Bill Wesson, deputy commissioner of the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Educa-tion.
However, examinations of simulations of the plans
using 19780 data show that the Columbia School Dis-trict
would have received a boost of $ 1.23 million un-der
the House version or $ 2. fiS million under the Sen-ate
version.
" The Senate version proposal seems better but is
offset by larger tax increases," said E. C. Walker,
Senate research staff member.
The House version of the measure would impose a
one- ce- nt sales tax and use one half of the proceeds to
roll back property tax levies. It also alters the School -
Foundation Formula by which funds are distributed
to school districts and would generate an additional
$ 320 million to $ 340 million in state aid.
" It's an idea to redo finances. Property owners
should not be the only ones to bear the burden of edu-cation,"
said Ted Smith, House research staff mem-ber.
" They're trying to get away from property tax as
the primary source of education."
Fisher said the school board also supports the in-crease
in sales tax as an alternate form of funding.
" We feel quite supportive of an increase in sales
tax. We have to be realistic about the need for addi-tional
monies. We have a need for options to the prop-erty
tax," Fiober explained.
The Foundation Formula in the House plan includes
a new aspect, the Cost of Education Index. It is de-signed
to provide additional state funds to school dis-tricts
that have a higher operating cost because of
factors beyond the district's control, such as cost of
living.
Factors used in calculating the figure include the
opportunity of employment for a teacher's spouse,
cultural aspects of the city, cost of living and the dis-tance
from the nearest university.
" It is perceived it'll move money to urban school
districts," Smith said.
The Cost of Education Index is not acceptable to the
Columbia School Board, Fisher said.
" We're not too excited about the Cost of Education
Index. It did not seem to us ( that) the factors includ-ed
were realistic in determining the relative cost of
education," Fisher said. " Other than that, we'd be
supportive of more money."
Sen. Roger Wilson, D- Colum-bia,
said he hopes the
index is taken out of the House plan because " the rich
get richer and the poor get poorer" under it.
The Senate committee version, supported by Edu-cation
Committee Chairman Sen. Nelson B. Tinnin,
D- Homersv-ille,
requires a one- tim- e property tax roll
back of one third and imposes an increase in income,
sales, corporate income and cigarette taxes.
Distribution of the approximately $ 500 million gen-erated
by the taxes will be on a flat grant basis deter-mined
by the operating cost for each eligible pupiL
" This bill is designed to take care of 100 percent of
the operating cost,' ' said Al StolL Tinnin's assistant
The Senate plan also repeals the School Foundation
Formula distribution and includes that money in its
flat grant program. The funds for transportation, spe-cial
education and programs for the gifted will not be
affected by the Senate plan.
" The foundation is too complex and out cf date,"
StoU said. " Senator Tinnin believes our bill is a per-manent
restructuring of school finances, which is
more fair than what we have now."
If either of the measures passes both chambers, it
must be approved by the voters.
Study says
smokers die
before all
BOSTON ( UPI) California
researchers Wednesday offered
one more argument to quit smok-ing
their study showed smok-ers
are more than twice as likely
to die of coronary heart disease
and tend to have higher death
rates from all causes.
The study reported in the New
England Journal of Medicine
showed that it even made a dif-ference
if smokers kept trying to
quit and failed.
Smokers in the study had the
highest death rates from any
cause; those who quit off and on
I had the second highest; those
who quit altogether the third
highest. People who never
smoked had the lowest.
The smokers were 2.22 times
more likely than quitters to die
of heart disease affecting the
coronary arteries, the study I
said. Heart disease, which also I
includes high blood pressure, is I
the number one killer in the Unit- -
ed States.
'
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